Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) are a critical component of IoT networks. Sensors are used for detection of changes in the physical and/or logical relationship of one object to another(s) and/or the environment. Physical changes may include temperature, light, pressure, sound, and motion. Logical changes include the presence/absence of an electronically traceable entity, location, and/or activity. Within an IoT context, physical and logical changes are equally important.
IoT facilitates vast amounts of fast-moving data from sensors and devices. For many use cases, data flows constantly from the device or sensor to the network and sometimes back to the device. In some cases, these streams of data are simply stored (for potential later use) and in other cases there is a need for real-time data processing and analytics.

This research assesses the overall sensor marketplace for IoT, evaluates leading vendors, identifies key IoT functionality in support of sensors, and forecasts the market for sensor adoption and revenue. This research also evaluates the technologies, companies, and solutions for real-time IoT data processing and analytics. The report assesses challenges and opportunities associated with realizing business value from real-time analytics. The report provides detailed forecasts globally, regionally, and across industry verticals and solution categories for 2017 to 2022.